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Last hours to vote for The Calling in the Independent Lens / PBS Audience Awards!

administrator — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:24:17 +0000

Hello friends and supporters!

Thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm for The Calling . There's only a few more hours to vote for The Calling in Independent Lens / PBS Audience Awards!

Please scroll to the bottom of this page and give us your vote by clicking on the stars!

Voting closes tonight at 5pm PDT.

We're super appreciative of you all!

Vote for The Calling in the Independent Lens Audience Awards

administrator — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:13:10 +0000

Enjoyed The Calling on PBS? Vote for us in Independent Lens's Audience Awards! They're open now! Go here to vote! Wooo hooo!

The Calling's Shmuly & Rob make a surprise visit to a California correctional facility

administrator — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:45:13 +0000

The Calling 's Shmuly Yanklowitz and Rob Pene showed up as a surprise at a discussion about The Calling at a California correctional facility on May 6th, and Rob wrote the following reflection after their visit:

Rabbi Shmuly and I had the opportunity to share our stories with some folks at a correctional facility near Magic Mountain this past Friday. Everyone had previously viewed The Calling the night before and were expecting filmmakers to come in for a discussion on the film. But to their surprise, we walk in :)

The guys were super respectful, offered encouraging comments and asked some very deep and insightful questions. Ranging from needing to be better fathers, to probing human rights movements, and wanting to know about burnout/regrets and living a balanced home & "service" life. I could tell that our dialogue was truly beneficial to both Shmuly and myself and for the entire group...

An incident that stood out to me was, during the talk, a young mexican dude stood up to give a comment, looked directly at me with a gaze of familiarity...and I Instantly KNEW who he was...he was a cat from back in the day that i had done some bible study with and actually mentored in the studio before while I used to do hip hop concerts in the streets of San Bernardino...It was quite moving!

It was funny because as soon as he stood up, I stood up from my chair as well and we had a little bit of a stare down. The whole crowd didn't know what was going on. I shouted to Albert "What up dawg?!" and the look on everyone's face was more "What the heck is going on?" But then we embraced like long lost brothers and it truly was a moving moment in the room.

At the end of our talk the guys wanted me to rap (which I had told them that I no longer rapped) so I brought Albert back up to the stage, asked for a drummer, who just so happened to have signed with the LA Dodgers a few years ago. And we had like a mini-concert :) It was crazy, everybody's hands in the air while Albert & I traded verses buzzin like old times. By request of the inmates, Shmuly closed out our time together with a prayer that moved mountains!!!!! The word that resonated loudly with me in the prayer was "hope" and as he said that, I had goose bumps :)

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity and will pray for those dudes to walk in their calling offering hope to others and being an encouragement to the world!

-Rob

Win a Flip Camera! Take our short survey!

ian — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:09:04 +0000

We've got a short survey and we'd love it if you could take five minutes and let us know what you think of What's Your Calling? and The Calling . Tell us the good, the bad, the ugly. When you finish the survey, you'll be entered into our raffle for a super cool Flip video camera!

Click here to take survey

Host Your Own Screening of The Calling!

administrator — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:55:21 +0000

Interested in organizing a screening of The Calling in your community? Check out the Host Your Own Screening portion of our website, give a look at our planning toolkit (PDF), and contact us for help! The full four-hour version of The Calling is available for screenings, including all seven characters, as well as an abridged, 78 minute version of the film, featuring four characters.

Bruce Lund on a letter from American Red Cross of Greater Chicago and the importance of toys

administrator — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:57:48 +0000

Bruce Lund blogs about the importance of toys and a letter he received from the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago after their CEO, Francesca Edwardson, watched Bruce's interview on What's Your Calling? Check out Bruce's blog. Bruce is the Founder of Lund and Company Invention, which invents, develops, and licenses innovative products for the toy industry and beyond.

What's Your Calling? in The Huffington Post

administrator — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:13:08 +0000

Check out this Huffington Post article by Danny Alpert about What's Your Calling? As Danny says: "We decided to explore how the notion of calling applies to people, religious and secular. We had the opportunity to create a conversation in which we could explore what people are most passionate about doing with their lives -- and why." Please leave your comments on the article and share with your friends!

Archive of live chat with The Calling's Series Director & Executive Producer Danny Alpert available on Independent Lens's Blog

administrator — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:07:44 +0000

Missed the live chat that Independent Lens hosted today with The Calling's Series Director & Executive Producer Danny Alpert? Never fear: an archive is here! Press "replay" in the blue box to check out the conversation. Leave your comments under the chat box!

Part two of The Calling airs on PBS's Independent Lens tonight!

administrator — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:01:07 +0000

Join us tonight for part two of The Calling on PBS's Independent Lens! Tonight you'll witness the characters' stories unfolding further, and you'll meet two new characters: Steven Gamez, who is Catholic, and Shmuly Yanklowitz, who is Jewish. For air times in your neighborhood, use ITVS's zip code search tool. Please contact us if you'd like to host your own screening of The Calling. Also: don't forget to check us out on Facebook, and please comment here on the site! We're grateful for everyone's support and hope you're enjoying the broadcast and the stories you find here!

The Calling premieres on PBS's Independent Lens as a two-part, four-hour miniseries on Monday December 20 & Tuesday December 21

administrator — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:07:19 +0000

The Calling airs on PBS's Independent Lens this week as a two part, four hour miniseries. Air dates: Monday night, December 20th and Tuesday night, December 21st. For air times in your zip code, check out ITVS's cool site. Please join us for the broadcast, join us on Facebook, check out The Calling on iTunes and shopPBS.org, and check out our ongoing campaign, What's Your Calling? , exploring religious and secular notions of calling through the stories of what people feel most passionate about doing with their lives - and why. Enjoy the film!!